After the end of the First English Civil War and the capture of King Charles I in 1646, the King was kept under house arrest, while the victors attempted to work out what should be done next. By this time, the Long Parliament and the New Model Army, which had worked so tightly together during the civil war, were expressing divergent aims. At the Putney Debates of October and November 1647, representatives of the radical faction known as the Levellers proposed a constitution where power was vested in the House of Commons rather than either King or House of Lords. Oliver Cromwell and other 'grandees' preferred to work towards a negotiated settlement with the King, but after it became apparent that Charles was still involved in secret plots, even they concluded that negotiation was futile.…
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